Glentress | The Hub in the Forest | Tweed Valley

Achtung, Baby! Nicolai Argon w Rohloff Hub | Article : Jake Law

It's raining, hard. The trails are a soggy, muddy mess, spirits are low.
Bikes are taking a beating, drivetrains and brake pads wearing out at a rate
of knots.....Scottish weather strikes again!

Enter the Nicolai Argon FR Rohloff - a bike built to take on the worst of the weather, to roll through the mud with impunity like an unstoppable Panzer.

At the heart of the Argon lies a piece of German engineering excellence - the Rohloff Speedhub 500/14 - a hub with 14 internal gears, which does away with fragile external components like derailleurs, cassettes and the need for two shifters.

The Speedhub uses three planetary gears inside an oil bath which gives the rider a total of 14 gears, spaced out in even increments of 13,6%.
What this results in is the ability to smoothly move between 1st to 14th gear with the twist of a shifter, without having to 'drop down one ring, move up two cogs, etc' as you would normally have to do on a conventional 27
speed drivetrain.

If you consider that you only really have 14 'true' gears on a 27 speed drivetrain anyway (the others are duplicates), it becomes clear how cool the Rohloff really is - you don't even need to pedal to change gear!

Because everything happens inside, the bike has the 'clean' look of a
singlespeeder, which is good news for those miserable winter rides - all you
have to worry about is keeping your chain lubed!
Rohloff have been producing their hubs since 1999, and have a reliability
record second to none - the only maintenance involved is changing the hub's
oil every 5000km, and even that is a five minute job.

So, enough about the clever hub, what about the frame?

The Argon was specifically designed by German bike co, Nicolai, for the UK
market, who demanded a fun, light, strong hardtail bike specifically for
wet-weather rides (we're a fussy bunch, aren't we??)
The frame is handmade using Easton premium aluminium, and comes with a 5
year warranty.

A slack 68 degree head angle allows the frame to be built with up to 150mm of travel up front - we built our's with a 140mm Rock Shox Pike 454 fork, long enough for loads of fun but light enough for the ride back up.
The Argon can be built up with gears, singlespeed or with a Rohloff hub - it is one of the few bikes that was specifically designed for a Rohloff, so the
fit is very clean - no chain tensioners or torque arms, just a cog, a chainring and a chain!

Nice touches include Crud Catcher mounts, forward-facing seat tube slots,
loads of mud clearance, stand-over height and full (uninterrupted) cable
routing - the PERFECT UK bike!

Riding the Argon is a revelation - once you get used to the twist shifter
(remember those?), zipping through the 14 gears is a dream, and a very
silent ride, too - no chain chatter or bouncing rear mech!

Being able to change gear whilst stationary or not pedaling is awesome - you never get caught out be sudden changes in the trail or having to stop suddenly in the wrong gear - just twist and go!!

The Rohloff hub has a strange buzzing sound in some gears, similar to a turbo trainer, but this gets much quieter the more you use the hub, as all the gears wear in together.

The Argon frame has a lively, upright position which begs you to push it
hard, and let the 140mm up front soak up the rough stuff - a perfect all-day
epic trail bike with attitude....perfect for Glentress, then!
Sizing is important, though, as the medium frame measures as a 18.7'', with
a toptube length of 23''...a bit big for most folk who normally ride a
medium bike, so consider the small frame (16.7''), unless you're over 6
foot.

We continued the German theme on our demo bike with Magura Louise FR brakes, Magura FR front hub and Continental Vertical 2.3 tyres (with Stan's No Tubes inside), and finished her off with Easton EA50 kit.

Pricing for the Argon FR frame is £900, and is available in a myriad of
colours (check out www.nicolai.net for info)
Pricing for the Rohloff Speedhub 500/14 is £750 - £799, depending on your
fitting requirements. Alternatively, you can book our Demo Argon for £35 a day ;-)

Yes, it's not cheap, but it will last a lifetime...just think how much all
those worn out chains, cassettes, chainrings, jockey wheels, cables,
knackered mech's, shifters, etc has cost you in the last ten years??

Bring on the mud!